Join Darion McCoy for a hands-on workshop exploring the intersection of game design and interface design. As artists and creators increasingly look to games for inspiration, this workshop offers practical insights for designers ready to break free from conventional UI patterns and create more engaging interactive experiences.
Through a combination of historical context, real-world examples, and interactive exercises, participants will learn how to leverage their existing interface design skills while pushing beyond the constraints of traditional product design. Darion brings unique expertise as a professional front-end developer and game creator, offering valuable perspectives on bridging these two worlds.
In this workshop, you'll learn:
- How game UI/UX has evolved and what makes it distinct from product interfaces
- Methods for translating your existing design skills into compelling game experiences
- Techniques for breaking free from standardized interface patterns while maintaining usability
- Practical approaches to sketching and prototyping game UI elements
- Ways to balance creativity and functionality in interactive experiences
Traditional interface design emphasizes clarity and efficiency, but games offer opportunities to make the interface itself part of the experience. Through guided exercises, you'll practice transforming essential UI elements into elements that enhance narrative and atmosphere. You'll learn to think beyond the clean, minimal aesthetics everyday in product design toward more prosperous visual approaches that serve both function and world-building.
This workshop emphasizes hands-on creation, with participants working on individual designs and receiving peer feedback. You'll leave with practical techniques for bringing more creativity and experimentation to your interface work, whether for games or other interactive projects.
Logistics
Time: 1 hour
Artist Information
Darion McCoy is a UI/UX Designer & Front-End Developer in Richmond, VA. He is a multidisciplinary creative who makes art and works on game design development. Darion also runs local art courses focused on marginalized communities. He is currently developing Angel's Nest, a folk-horror survival game set in an alternative, pre-colonial Africa.
This was held December 3rd, 2024.
Join Darion McCoy for a hands-on workshop exploring the intersection of game design and interface design. As artists and creators increasingly look to games for inspiration, this workshop offers practical insights for designers ready to break free from conventional UI patterns and create more engaging interactive experiences.
Through a combination of historical context, real-world examples, and interactive exercises, participants will learn how to leverage their existing interface design skills while pushing beyond the constraints of traditional product design. Darion brings unique expertise as a professional front-end developer and game creator, offering valuable perspectives on bridging these two worlds.
In this workshop, you'll learn:
- How game UI/UX has evolved and what makes it distinct from product interfaces
- Methods for translating your existing design skills into compelling game experiences
- Techniques for breaking free from standardized interface patterns while maintaining usability
- Practical approaches to sketching and prototyping game UI elements
- Ways to balance creativity and functionality in interactive experiences
Traditional interface design emphasizes clarity and efficiency, but games offer opportunities to make the interface itself part of the experience. Through guided exercises, you'll practice transforming essential UI elements into elements that enhance narrative and atmosphere. You'll learn to think beyond the clean, minimal aesthetics everyday in product design toward more prosperous visual approaches that serve both function and world-building.
This workshop emphasizes hands-on creation, with participants working on individual designs and receiving peer feedback. You'll leave with practical techniques for bringing more creativity and experimentation to your interface work, whether for games or other interactive projects.
Logistics
Time: 1 hour
Artist Information
Darion McCoy is a UI/UX Designer & Front-End Developer in Richmond, VA. He is a multidisciplinary creative who makes art and works on game design development. Darion also runs local art courses focused on marginalized communities. He is currently developing Angel's Nest, a folk-horror survival game set in an alternative, pre-colonial Africa.
This was held December 3rd, 2024.
Our Approach
Game-Making Practice
It's for everyone! We believe that game design and thinking is not limited to "the video game industry." It's a creative point of view that any discipline can use.
LEARN FROM Doing
Our workshops are focused on activities with a majority of time spent on making things.
this is only the start
You'll grow from here. We hope that this is a stepping stone for you to permanently work with the material of games.